Color Inspiration for the bathroom

Sherwin Williams Rainwashed

Benjamin Moore James River Gray

 Benjamin MooreChili Pepper

Benjamin Moore Fire Dance

 These are just a few of the chips I collected today, and a final color decision hasn't been made. But, a blue and coral combination feels just about right to take a worn out 80's bathroom into 2011.

A year( few months really) in review

Though I don't have much to show for it since this blog is so new, here is my year in review

September

*started blogging and planning a Halloween party with these projects

glittery spiders

 vintage topiary

October

*Had a mammoth Halloween party

click for more details

November

*became incredibly lazy and only completed one project

pottery barn kids inspired garland

*but blogged about another party I threw two months before and hoped no one noticed my lack of project progress

a tiny little tea party

December

*tried to kick myself into high gear by blogging about Holiday inspiration

click for more details

*kept it honest by showing my progress

inspiration update

*missed all the Holiday Mantle linky parties, but showed mine off anyway

Holiday Mantle

*And closed out the year by blogging about the first project in my 2011 To-Do list

New Year-New Room

Linking up with Rhoda

Next up- A plan to take the bathroom from To-Do to To-Done

New Year- New Room

Instead of making a New Year's Resolution this year(that I won't stick with past January 3rd anyway) I decided to make a list of things I want to change in the new year.

First on the list is our upstairs bathroom. If you could arrest a room for being unattractive and dysfunctional, this room would be on the Most Wanted List. It would have it's own card in the Most Wanted Deck.

Let's take a look at the charges facing this space:

1. Flagrant use of unattractive wallpaper

 view from entry door

 up close and personal- glorious isn't it?

Its on every wall, behind the potty and mirror. The same wallpaper has been in this house since it was built in the early eighties. 30 years of hair product over spray and questionable biological substances must no doubt be coating the walls in there. Oh, and did I mention that this wallpaper was applied directly to the sheetrock? No? I had to battle that monster in our main floor bathroom as well, and in case you haven't had the pleasure of prying archaic wallpaper off sheetrock that wasn't first sealed with a primer- it isn't even as fun as it sounds. Picture spending hours scoring and spraying, steaming and prying just to have pieces the size of quarter come off at a time. And after all that hard work you are still faced with the task of patching the many, many, many areas on the wall where the sheetrock was damaged in the removal process. In case I haven't accurately conveyed my feelings here- I hate, loathe and detest removing wallpaper.

2. Depositing/Dumping Without Permission

 see the rust stain to the left of the faucet opening?

it extends into the tub as well. Jealous yet?

Both the sink and bathtub fixtures are builder issue from the eighties, and unlike leggings and NKOTB are NOT enjoying a resurgence in popularity this year.  On top on being less than thrilling looking, the seals and fittings have decayed through many years of use, and instead of holding the water the faucets DUMP(drip) water constantly and DEPOSIT lovely rust colored stains in the bathtub and sink.

3. Violations of Cleanliness and Sanitation Act
Proper storage containers are lacking in our bathroom drawers, leaving the contents shuffling around each time they are opened.

Inside instead of seeing this

Source-Ikea

You see this

And this

I can't for one minute think that this is the best way to corral these items, or the cleanest way to store toothbrushes and flossers. Clear violations here.

4. Danger of Falling Objects

The shower caddy doesn't stay in place once you put toiletries inside and will lurch at will, sending the objects inside hurtling forward. Nothing has truly fallen out yet, but I wouldn't hang out underneath it testing my luck.

5. Stowaways found on board

Items we are no longer using, or don't even belong in this room have been located, hiding out in the cabinet. It's time for these stowaways to get the boot. Not shown in the above picture are the bazillion baby washcloths and towels stuffed into the cabinet. You use baby washcloths and towels on a baby. My kid is almost 5. So... yeah it's time for them to receive the old heave-ho as well.

That list of infractions is enough to light a fire under me to start brainstorming ways to address the issues.Let's hope the bathroom goes down quietly, and doesn't resist arrest.

Up next- a plan to take the bathroom off the Most (Un)Wanted List.

Holiday Wrap- Up

A few final projects have been finished around here that I wanted to share.

First of all, the tree

I know right about now you are noticing a distinct lack of ribbon-y goodness. Hobby Lobby never restocked the ribbon I initially chose, forcing me to select another ribbon. I bought all they had and was certain it would be enough. Insert loud game show "wrong answer" sound here. 

I just threw in the towel and used what I had purchased, even though it wasn't really enough. Since its pushed into the corner you don't really notice how badly it needs more ribbon. Well, I do, but I have been assured it looks fine by my husband, who doesn't really care about decorating in any way, so I am sure it's true:) 

Here it is all lit up at night

Another project that was left until the last minute was decorating the outside of our house. I know I mentioned using tomato cages to make outdoor decorations, but um, yeah. That didn't happen. Maybe next year. What did happen was one morning I took garden shears to the Leyland Cyprus, pricker bush, and grasses in our yard and stuck the clippings into the plain green wreath and empty planters around the front door. 

It was free decorating at its finest. Its not perfect, but I think I like it. 

I won't mention that less than 24 hours after taking these pictures the wreath was tossed off the door during a huge wind storm and all the clippings I should have wired in but didn't were strewn about the yard. Nope, won't mention it at all. 

Merry Christmas! 

Holiday Mantle

Here is our mantle all decked out and ready for Christmas. 

I know I missed all the fun blog decorating parties, but better late than never right? 

Inspiration Update

Earlier I posted pictures I planned to use as inspiration for decorating this Christmas. Like any good teacher(or former teacher in my case) I like to take any opportunity to gauge progress. Here is my progress report, feel free to grade it as you see fit.

Magnolia Wreath

I was able to give that old magnolia a good pruning and make this wreath. I chose to use only the green sides of the leaves because this magnolia didn't produce any leaves with that gorgeous caramel color on the backside. I made mine into a sort of non-traditional starburst shape instead of the simpler wreath shown in the inspiration photo. I could tell you that was purposefully done, but that would be a lie. It was a total accident, the kind that is likely to happen when you jump into a project with no idea what you are doing. I kinda like it though, so we will call it a happy accident. 

Also in the window I put some twig snowflakes, idea from Kolein, found here

Eclectic Candlesticks

okay, so this isn't the best photo. The flash on my camera isn't functioning properly after it's near death tumble to the ground over the summer. Yea for the Nikon camera itself, Boo for it's tragically terrible camera strap. 

If you can't tell from the photo, and who could blame you really since it appears that it was taken in a cave, I wasn't able to find bases that were all the same. I added in clear glass bases with some silver ones I already had and called it a day. Silver and glass match, right? Right? Can I get a maybe? 

I know I could always spray them out silver, but the other silver ones are real sterling silver and I don't think spray paint comes in a matching tone with that. 

Truth be told, I do have another picture that is slightly, emphasis on slightly, better. Though it may only emphasize the non matching-ness of the whole shebang, I guess I can post it. 

Terrible? Acceptable? Thoughts?

Ribbon decorated Christmas tree

Still working on this one. Hobby Lobby refuses to restock the ribbon I bought, attached to my tree and ran out of before enough was up there. So until they get their act together I cant finish. Don't blame me, blame the 'Lob. I know I do. :)

Holiday Inspiration

This year I lazed(past tense of lazy? no? go with it anyway) out on decoration for Thanksgiving since we weren't celebrating it here. It was nice at first, but after only completing one project in a month I am slightly overexcited to get started on Christmas projects. These are the things I am looking forward to trying in my house this year-

magnolia wreath- this one is from PB and rings in on sale at 79 bills. I have my eye on an over grown magnolia tree at my in  laws house that will hopefully save me some major cash. The question is- do I make one or two of these beauts and how large do I go?

source- potterybarn

Eclectic candlesticks. Those that know me in real life will quickly tell you that I am not one for eclectic design. I am obsessed with symmetry and uniformity, and have been known to rearrange furniture in hotel rooms while staying the night. Something about a lack of symmetry is unsettling to me. However, this year I want to try something different in the middle of the table and this picture with a variety of candlesticks is gorgeous. It is a departure for me in that all the bases aren't the same, but is something I think I can handle since the finish is the same throughout.

I am going to try and recreate it in my house using some handed down candlesticks and a pair I recently found at Goodwill. All I am missing is the pillar holders. Well actually, I have some but the finish isn't the same and I-just-can't-handle-that! Goodwill will hopefully provide.

source- martha stewart

Paper evergreens. Oh Martha- why do you always do this to me? These look simple and inexpensive to make. I can imagine a grouping of them on my mantle amid some (more) candlesticks and greenery. Or would that be too much green? We shall see.

source- country living

Ribbon on my Christmas tree. I have always liked this look, but never remember to try it. I probably won't go with red, I am thinking green, but you never know.

I have a little something up my sleeve for the front porch but I am saving that little tid bit until I see how it works out. All I will say is a tomato cage is involved. Let's hope our local garden center still has 'em.

Anyone tried these before and can lend their expertise?

up next- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,  or at least I hope so.

PB Hacks-Felt Leaves Garland

A post also known as- how to save yourself 47 big ones

See this?

source-pb kids

Love it? Yea, me too. But the price tag of $49.00? Not so much. 

Here is my version, which rang in at about $2.00

much better colors for my living room, and I will take the $47.00 savings, thankyouverymuch.

A few close ups

Edited to add- I used leaves from my yard as templates for cutting out the felt.

I have linked up with:
coastal charm
just a girl
thirty days
craft envy
fireflies and jellybeans
house of hepworths
i heart naptime
mommas kinda crafty
perfectly imperfect
tatertots and jello
metamorphosis monday

I am a hacker

Not the computer kind, silly. The Pottery Barn kind. Come back tomorrow to see how I hacked Pottery Barn and saved myself $47.00.

A Tiny Little Tea Party

a post also known as- those are the words I used to convince my husband to let me have this party

Over the summer I came across Melissa Lester's blog "A Little Loveliness"  Her blog is a such an inspiring read, but what stood out to me a few months ago were the perfectly lovely tea parties she hosts. One of which was an afternoon tea party she had for her children to celebrate their return to school. Since my one and only was starting school this year, finding this seemed so well timed and appropriate. A back to school tea party was the perfect way to celebrate this milestone. Putting my own spin on her ideas, an early afternoon tea party was created using lots of pink, lots of flowers, and lots of sweets.

Guests received this tea pot invitation announcing the events details(which have now been blurred for privacy). I feel so fortunate to have a wonderful husband who works as a graphic designer, he was able to take my rough sketch and ideas and turn them into the most wonderful invitations.

The littlest ladies found this table waiting for them in the kitchen. 

The table cover was a scrap of fabric leftover from the bunting hung in the dining room window. The center of the table held a plastic tea set from my daughter's playroom, brought down to encourage imaginative play during the party. 

The girls place cards were held in antique rose holders handed down from my great aunt. 

To dress up our kitchen chairs, which are badly in need of a fresh coat of paint, I tied a strip of tulle embellished with a crepe paper rose bud. 

The center of our bay window held a crepe paper rose wreath. 

Our "mommies" table was set in the dining room. 

This table was set using a simple white table cloth and another scrap of fabric leftover from the bunting, shown here hung in the dining room window.

The dining room chairs also received a tulle and crepe paper rose bud embellishment, to help tie the two party areas together.

 Slightly different place card holders, still with the same rose theme, held the name cards for this room.

The center of the table held a silver tea set, another antique treasure passed down through my family. I filled the creamer with perfectly pink roses, found at Wal-Mart of all places. 

The table also held heart shaped sugar cookies with cream cheese icing, a newly found favorite cookie of mine. 

One final detail and the table was complete- petite pink rose hair clips for each little girl to take home after the party.  The tops of each card did have the girl's names on them, now removed for privacy.

 Our dining room, set for the party

The buffet in our kitchen made a pretty good tea cart. Three types of hot tea, along with the traditional cream and sugar were served; as well as a cranberry lemon iced tea. The buffet also held strawberry and cream cheese, and pimento cheese tea sandwiches. In addition to the heart shaped sugar cookies, guests were also encouraged to satisfy their sweet tooth with mini cupcakes, candy kisses and fresh fruit. 

Thank you for the inspiration Melissa! We all enjoyed a wonderful afternoon together, which made going back to school just a little easier to manage.

Linking up to Whipperberry